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https://www.greenaironline.com/Danish large-scale project plans using offshore wind power to deliver sustainable aviation e-fuels by 2030https://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2705
Fri 5 June 2020 - A partnership of Danish green energy and transport organisations, including Copenhagen Airports and SAS, has been formed to explore the potential for a ground-breaking hydrogen and e-fuel production facility as soon as 2023. When fully scaled by 2030, using renewable electricity, the Power-to-X project could deliver more than 250,000 tonnes of sustainable fuel for buses, trucks, maritime vessels and airplanes. Production would potentially be based on a total electrolyser capacity of 1.3 gigawatts, which would likely make it one of the world's largest facilities of its kind. The requirement for a large-scale supply of renewable electricity could potentially come from offshore wind power produced at Rønne Bank off the island of Bornholm. The partners are seeking public co-funding to conduct a full feasibility study of the project.
LanzaTech launches new LanzaJet venture following investment from Suncor and Mitsui to build new SAF demo facilityhttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2704
Fri 5 June 2020 - Alcohol-to-jet specialist LanzaTech has launched a new company, LanzaJet, to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel from sustainable ethanol sources. Investment in the venture totalling $25 million has been secured from Canadian integrated energy company Suncor Energy ($15m) and Mitsui ($10m). The funding will be used to build a demonstration plant expected to produce 10 million gallons per year starting in 2022. This initial investment, coupled with participation from All Nippon Airways (ANA), will complement an existing $14 million grant from the US Department of Energy to enable the construction at LanzaTech's Freedom Pines site in Soperton, Georgia. In addition to its equity investment, Suncor has contracted to take a significant portion of the SAF and renewable diesel.
ICAO receives eight more applications from carbon programmes seeking offset eligibility under CORSIAhttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2701
Thu 28 May 2020 - ICAO has received eight applications from emissions unit programmes in the second round of assessments by its Technical Advisory Body (TAB), along with material updates to two applications in the first round. The public is invited to comment by June 26 on the new applications and updates, in particular regarding their alignment with ICAO's emissions unit criteria (EUC). The programmes range from a project to supply geothermal-generated electricity to Kenya’s national grid to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative effort of 10 eastern US states to cap and reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector. The TAB's assessment and recommendations are expected for consideration by the ICAO Council during its session in early November. A third round of applications is planned to begin in January 2021.
Lufthansa Group to collaborate with Swiss ventures developing renewable jet fuel from sunlighthttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2700
Wed 27 May 2020 - Lufthansa Group has signed a letter of intent with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) and its two spin-offs Climeworks and Synhelion to develop renewable jet fuel from sunlight. The collaborative partnership, initiated by Lufthansa Group subsidiaries SWISS and Edelweiss, will include cooperation in technology and economic efficiency, with an intention to agree at a later date on quotas of the renewable fuel to support demonstration projects. Researchers and engineers at ETH Zurich have developed processes that make it possible to extract CO2 from the atmosphere and together with water and the help of concentrated sunlight, convert it into a synthesis gas that can be used to produce jet fuel. The fuel releases only as much CO2 as was previously extracted from the atmosphere.
European Commission recommends EU states back industry proposal for CORSIA baseline changehttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2699
Tue 26 May 2020 - The European Commission has recommended EU states should support a proposal by the airline industry to change the CORSIA baseline to take account of the expected sharp decline in carbon emissions this year. Under the scheme, airlines must offset the carbon emissions above a 2019-2020 baseline, but a lower baseline would likely mean a higher than expected carbon offsetting obligation. IATA estimates the baseline would be about 30 per cent more stringent than originally anticipated before the Covid-19 crisis and is calling for a 2019-only baseline. ICAO's environment committee CAEP has carried out its own analysis on the impact of changing the baseline to 2019 and found offsetting requirements in the three-year pilot phase starting in 2021 would be close to zero and be reduced by between 9 and 32 per cent in all phases up to 2035. Meanwhile, backed by an Oeko-Institut analysis, a group of NGOs and carbon market stakeholders has urged ICAO Council members not to make the change at next month's Council session and instead wait until the scheme’s first review in 2022.
The UK’s first waste-to-jet fuel plant takes a step forward as Velocys secures planning permissionhttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2698
Thu 21 May 2020 - Sustainable fuels technology company Velocys has received planning approval to build its proposed Altalto Immingham waste-to-jet fuel plant on a site in the north-east of England. Subject to completion of legal agreements with the local council and final funding, the company plans to begin construction in 2022 and to start producing commercial volumes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2025. The plant will convert "hundreds of thousands" of tonnes of non-recyclable household and commercial waste, otherwise destined for landfill or incineration, into SAF for the partners in the project, Shell and British Airways. The planning approval had been subject to an objection by Natural England, which expressed concern over the plant's location near an estuary site rich in wildlife but the objection was withdrawn and the council unanimously approved the application.
Aviation emissions the most impacted globally during the Covid-19 lockdown, shows analysis of economic sectorshttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2696
Tue 19 May 2020 - In the first peer-reviewed study of the drop in global carbon emissions during the Covid-19 lockdown, an analysis of six economic sectors during the period January to April shows aviation was the most impacted by the confinement. While responsible for 3 per cent of global emissions, it accounted for a 10 per cent decrease in the global total during the first four months of the pandemic. The study, which has just been published in the journal Nature Climate Change, shows that daily global emissions across sectors during the peak of the confinement measures in early April decreased by 17 per cent - or 17 million tonnes (MtCO2) - compared to mean daily levels in 2019, dropping to levels last observed in 2006. Depending on the level of remaining worldwide restrictions and their duration, the researchers from the universities of East Anglia (UK) and Stanford (US) estimate a fall of 4 to 7 per cent in overall 2020 global emissions, the rate of decline needed annually to limit climate change close to a 1.5C warming, they point out.
ASTM approves pathway for production of microalgae-based sustainable aviation fuel developed by Japan's IHIhttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2695
Mon 18 May 2020 - Fuel standards organisation ASTM International has approved the seventh technology pathway for the production and use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Annex A7 to ASTM's SAF specification D7566 establishes approval for a type of synthesised paraffinic kerosene derived from hydroprocessed hydrocarbons, esters and fatty acids. The standard provides that HC-HEFA-SPK fuel, which has been developed by Japan's IHI Corporation, may be blended at up to 10 per cent by volume with conventional fuel. The fuel pathway is the first to receive expedited review under ASTM's fast-track review process. Meanwhile, sustainability standards body RSB has submitted to ICAO an application to be recognised as a sustainability certification scheme under the CORSIA global carbon scheme for international aviation.
Airlines unlikely to have any CORSIA offsetting obligations for at least three years if baseline rule changed, finds EDF analysishttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2694
Fri 15 May 2020 - Under most post-Covid recovery scenarios for the airline industry, it is unlikely airlines will have any obligations to purchase and surrender emissions units for at least the duration of CORSIA's three-year pilot phase starting next January if a rule change to the scheme's baseline is made, finds an analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Aeroplane operators covered by CORSIA will be required to offset emissions above a baseline calculated on the average emissions from international flights for 2019 and 2020. However, the dramatic fall in global air traffic expected this year will significantly lower the baseline and result in a much higher offsetting obligation over CORSIA's 15-year duration, says IATA. It is calling on the ICAO Council at its session next month to change the rule so that only 2019 emissions are used as the baseline. EDF argues that such a decision should wait until the next Assembly in 2022.
Europe must not turn its back on CORSIA or it could fall apart, EU transport chief warns MEPshttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2693
Wed 13 May 2020 - With a deadline of the end of next month (June 30) for countries to voluntarily opt in or out of the CORSIA scheme from its start in January 2021, the EU's transport chief told sceptical members of the European Parliament this week that EU support was vital for the scheme's existence. Without it, there was a clear risk CORSIA "could fall to pieces", Commissioner Adina Vălean told a meeting of the Parliament's environment committee (ENVI). She reassured MEPs that a future revision of the EU ETS would not be compromised by the implementation of the global offsetting scheme for international aviation emissions and the two would be complementary. Meanwhile, Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans told a transport committee (TRAN) meeting that it was legitimate for Member States to ask airlines currently seeking state bailouts for environmental commitments in return.
Growth of carbon emissions from European flights slowed in 2019 but still against downward trend in other industrial sectorshttps://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=2692
Thu 7 May 2020 - Aviation emissions covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) rose by 1 per cent in 2019, as against an overall decrease of 9 per cent from stationary installations. However, the European Commission described the increase from 67.49 million tonnes of CO2 in 2018 to 68.14 Mt last year as significantly smaller than in previous years. Analysis by the Commission shows 46 per cent of 2019 emissions were covered by free allocations of allowances to aircraft operators. With IATA forecasting a potential 55 per cent fall in total 2020 European revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) as a result of Covid-19, many airlines may not need to buy any allowances this year. Meanwhile, only a few airlines have so far been required to agree environmental conditions as part of bailouts by EU states, which are largely business-as-usual targets.